Christmas in Edinburgh

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a lovely day and (surprisingly) a white Christmas! It snowed for a week straight, and as a result we were able to spend Christmas Eve building snowmen in the Meadows, and Derek rolled a couple snowballs down the hills around the Castle. The weather reports here revolved around snow, and how it was Britain's first white Christmas in 5 years.

We had quite the week leading up to Christmas. Derek and I had been ill since Friday, and my cough was so bad that I went to the drop-in clinic (aka open-access surgery) on Monday morning and was given a week of antibiotics to use in case the illness got worse. It did, so I'm now halfway through the week-long course of pills and am feeling much better. My energy levels bounced back so fast that I went from spending every day lying on the pull-out couch in front of the tv/laptop to spending Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon in the library reading Parliamentary Debates from 1810-1814. Derek kept me company on Wednesday afternoon, which was very nice. It was a productive two days that alerted me to an impending deadline that I wasn't aware of. New posters were up letting everyone know that due to the continuing redevelopment of the library the second floor is about to be cleared out, and according to the nice librarian I spoke to, the books probably won't return until 2012. Of course I need them much sooner then that, and the Parliamentary Debates are considered reference books so I can't take them out of the library, so when the library re-opens on the 28th I'll be in there reading those volumes as fast as I can!

Anyway, back to our Christmas. On Christmas Eve the day started with wrapping presents and the arrival of the laundry machine repair man, who discovered that the reason our dryer had never heated up was because the previous tenant had made it overheat and the emergency shut-off had engaged. Not a big surprise, seeing as when we moved in the handle had been broken right off the machine by the guy. Life is so much better with a dryer that dries, even if it only mostly dries and it takes over an hour to just about dry a small load of 1.5 kg of clothes. In the afternoon we went on a long walk and made a bunch of snowmen and snow animals in the Meadows. When we got back Derek put together a lovely selection of nibbles, and we snacked and skyped with family and even opened a couple presents from his siblings.

Christmas morning was great. We had an excellent breakfast -- Derek had an omelette with fried mushrooms, and I had french toast with blueberries, yogurt and honey. We opened our present from one another, which included classic wii controllers, a movie, and a CD-Rom to learn Latin, something Derek's been working on. We got into the Latin, which it turns out is really just a scanned version of the Latin textbook, but it does have a narrator reading the text and interactive exercises. I think it'll be fun -- a good refresher for me, and a challenge for both of us.

In the afternoon we went for a walk through the Princes Street Gardens. Our intention was to see Santa's reindeer, who have been staying in a pen there for a few weeks. It didn't occur to us that Santa would have needed them the night before, and so they were gone. But it was a beautiful walk, and we got to enjoy the almost silent downtown. Some of the touristy Scottish shops were open on the Royal Mile, and tourists were going from one to another along the street.

We did a lot of skyping with family in the afternoon (which was still Christmas morning back home), and then had a great turkey dinner with The Santa Clause on (the Tim Allen one from the mid-90s. Derek didn't think he'd seen it before, and I hadn't seen it since Dad took me when it first came out in the theatres.) In the evening we watched Blackadder's Christmas Carol and played our new Wii game, the New Super Mario Brothers Wii, which is an excellent, old-school style Nintendo game with great graphics and a co-operative mode in which we can work and play together to get more points. I die an awful lot more than Derek does, so he's quite nice about sharing his 1-Ups with me :) It was really fun playing an old-fashioned style but new game. The controls and goals come completely naturally to us, having grown up with NES's Super Mario Bros.

So that's the story of our first Christmas in Edinburgh. It was a beautiful day and we had a very nice day together, and although I got a little sad and homesick at times, Derek kept my spirits up with extra hugs. With more games to play and dvds to watch it'll be a good weekend! Then, back to the bookstacks!

My 'Retro Birthday'

On December 17th (last Thursday) I turned 27, and to celebrate Derek and I made a bunch of plans for a busy, fun day with friends. Of course, almost everyone we know here had already gone home for Christmas, but a few close friends were still in town, which made for nice, small party, and left more food and cheesecake to around :) In the morning we watched from the front windows as the dark clouds above the castle released a ton of hail on the streets, and then it started to snow. First there was just tiny snowflakes, but then it turned into massive puffy white snowflakes. This was the first real snowfall this winter, and I swear it was just for my birthday, to make things feel like home.

The first item on my day's agenda was lunch out with Derek. We rarely go out to eat, so this is a big treat for me. We chose the Red Fort, with its great Indian buffet and an equally great student discount. Our Norwegian friends introduced us to the restaurant at the end of August and its become our new favourite place to eat out. (We've also recently started making vegetarian curries at home once a week, which have been turning out great.) Anyway, we lucked out getting a seat within 10 minutes of arriving because a table for 2 opened up. The place was pretty busy with office Christmas parties, and a group of 3 waiting ahead of us gave up and left. The group of 4 students ahead of us eventually had to seat themselves after waiting half an hour and watching other groups who came in later get seated. The food was excellent as usual -- the chicken korma is probably my favourite, the pakoras were great and I love the naan bread. So a very good lunch overall.

Two of my friends were coming over at 2:30, but before that Derek gave me a lovely pair of furry mauve slippers which make me feel like I have muppet feet (a great feeling!). My friends came over, and we were able to time it so that I could introduce them to my mum over Skype using our webcams, which was very neat. Then we were off to the bowling alley, where we settled on two games. There was a large group of me taking up a ton of space next to our lane and restricting access to the range of bowling balls, so our guys had to use what they could find until the group left and they could raid their stash. I was pretty rusty and did get off to a great start, but some of Derek's tips came back to me. Around 8 frames into the first game the lights suddenly went out, blue lights and some crazy rotating and flashing lights came on and it became much harder to concentrate and even aim.

Derek, who grew up bowling in leagues, found that he had some competition from my friend from Japan. It turns out bowling in Japan is probably as popular for teens as going to the movies, so he'd had a lot of experience as well. Then there was my other friend who had next to no experience bowling. She told me that in Germany they play a similar game, but its not the same. However, beginner's luck had her right up there with the boys in points for the entire first game, and she finished only a few points short of Derek, who'd come in second. And me, I came in last in both games, which is my usually place when bowling. I never mind. And I got a strike each game, so I was very proud of that!

After bowling we all came back to ours for pizza and cake. The day before I had made my mum's blackforest cheesecake for the first time and it looked great. It tasted great too, and won rave reviews from my friends. I always find shopping here using a recipe from back home a bit frustrating, because we just don't have access to the same selection, or even the same kind of items sometimes. For example, I always have to make my own cookie crumbs for my crusts, when back home I'd just buy a box of crumbs. The big challenge this time was trying to find the cherry topping. Normally the topping is just spoonfuls of cherry pie filling from a can. I hadn't realised that fruit pies are very much an American thing, and so it'd be rare to find such an item pre-made. Luckily, in Somerfield, one of the larger grocery stores around, Derek spotted some dzem wisniowy (cherry jam) in the Polish food section, so we decided to give that a try. Well, it was perfect! A slightly different texture, but exactly the flavour I was going for.

All in all it was an excellent birthday. With bowling and my usual cheesecake it was very much like the birthday parties I had when I was young. However, one other thing happened that was also common to my childhood birthdays that I wasn't planning on -- I got sick. By Friday night my typical deep chest cough had returned, and this morning I was given a prescription for antibiotics to use in case things get worse over Christmas and I develop my usual case of bronchitis for Christmas. Now I really do feel like I'm a kid again!

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is in the air here in Edinburgh. Friends are flying home left and right, the shops are decorated and all lit up (one blares carols over an outdoor speaker on the weekends), and I even came across a Salvation Army's brass band playing Christmas carols ala Mr. Bean! Last night a couple of us had a Girl's Night Out at the German Christmas Market that has sprung up around the art galleries at the centre of town. It was a chilly, foggy evening -- perfect for a hot mug of mulled wine and some goodies. The castle was completely hidden from view, regardless of all the lights they shine on it at night and the trail of lit trees leading up to it along the side of the hill.

We then walked around the market, watched the skaters trying to skate through the slushy ice of the outdoor skating rink that's been set up down in Princes Street Gardens, and checked out the carnival rides. People were going on the ferris wheel next to the Walter Scott Monument even though between the dark sky and the dense fog you wouldn't have been able to see anything. Two of my friends went on the swings, which flew so high and so fast around that they were a bit worried that their feet were flying too close to the monument! After that we needed to warm up in an indoor setting, so we walked down George Street, which has gorgeous starry Christmas lights strung up all along it, and found our way into Wetherspoons, a chain of pubs known for using gorgeous buildings with lovely interiors and selling uber cheap drinks. £1.50 'luxury' hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows was the perfect cap to the evening.

In the upcoming week pretty much all of our friends who are still around are flying home for Christmas. It looks like my birthday party will be pretty small, but excellent none-the-less. Bowling, pizza and cheesecake are the plan, so it can't fail to good evening! This will be our first Christmas in Edinburgh, or indeed away from home. We're looking forward to walking around this beautiful city on Christmas Day, which apparently shuts down completely for the day. But we're going to be missing family and friends back home, so there's already plans in the works for Skype video-chatting for my birthday, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Derek's working on his Christmas Eve evening menu of snacks and nibbles, and I am almost completely done my Christmas shopping and card sending. We decided to not have a tree, as there'd be no place to store it through the year and we don't know where we'll be next Christmas. Plus it seems the big trend here in artificial trees is black ones, which to me look dead rather than festive.

After Christmas we'll be going to the massive street party for Hogmanay (the big New Year's Eve celebration) again this year, and this time we'll have family coming to share it with! Yes, my cousin is touring around Europe for a couple weeks for a variety of functions and family stuff, and will be stopping by to use our sofa bed in time for New Years Eve, so that's perfect. I'm really looking forward to seeing a familiar face, in person, here in Edinburgh. And if you're thinking about heading this way, we've got a pull-out couch that has been tested and approved by friends, so we're all set :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

We had a great, busy, tiring, and at times rediculously fun week last week, and its going to be quite the feat to try to write up our adventures, but I shall tackle this challenge head on so as to not let the moments disappear into the Scottish mists.

The story begins on Sunday afternoon with a phone call from a familiar number that hadn't called me in months. My friend and his girlfriend had arrived in Edinburgh from Oslo, Norway, had gotten his parents settled into their hotel, and were now on their way to drop off their luggage before showing the parents around town so that they'd be able to navigate their own way around for the next few days. It was great to see them! They rolled their massive suitcases into our living room, we chatted with his parents for a few minutes, and then they all headed out to make use of the last hour of sunlight for their tour. That evening we had dinner together. Derek made toad-in-the-hole, which was excellent as usual. We watched tv (we had taped The Simpsons episode with the Norwegian descendants in Ogdenville, so that was a laugh finding out how much research they'd really done) and talked, and left them to settle in after opening up the sofa bed.

The next morning we got up fairly early like usual, and tiptoed into the dark living room. They got up fairly early as well, as my friend had to return to the airport. It turns out that at midnight when he'd opened his suitcase he'd discovered that it wasn't his. Luckily the woman who had taken his case before he'd made it to the carousel had texted him and already returned the case to the airport. So that was a pretty crazy start to the week. I had to take off and teach a couple tutorials, and they had planned to do some shopping (we found out that manufactured goods, clothes and other products are a lot cheaper here than in Norway, even though we find stuff here to much more expensive than back home in Canada) so we didn't see them for much of the day. Monday was also Derek's and my eighth anniversary, so we spent the afternoon at Edinburgh Castle, before getting a nice Indian takeaway-style dinner from M&S (and an apple pie for dessert). My friend was off to the university's Scandinavian Society's Christmas dinner, so he got all dressed up (and borrowed Derek's belt, having forgotten to bring one), and his girlfriend's good friend was playing music at a nearby pub so she went off to hear him play.

On Tuesday I had a couple meetings to go to, and spent the afternoon trying to finish marking my students' essays. That can be a rather depressing experience, especially as this batch was a lot worse in general than the set I marked in October. My friend had come home raving about an amazing slice of chocolate cake he'd had at a little Turkish cafe over on Nicholson, and promised to take me out for cake if I got my essays done. This proved to be an excellent incentive! I also started to put together plans for a Thursday Night Social for the new grads and current postgrads on Thursday night, which I got increasingly nervous about as the guest numbers rose. Eventually my nerves threatened to destroy my ability to enjoy the evening, so I ask a good friend to step in and host the party, which he did wonderfully. I still owe him a coffee :) That night we played a little Rock Band, rotating around the guitar, drums and microphone, but discovered our controllers were dying so MarioKart would have to wait.

Wednesday was the big day: MSc grad, the whole reason behind their visit. I was very happy that my friend's request for extra tickets had come through, so Derek and I were able to attend the ceremony at 3pm. I marked essays for the morning, and also had a student-staff liaison committee meeting at noon for the course I tutor, plus snuck in a quick chat with my supervisor before heading home for lunch. Unfortunately the weather was awful, cold and wet, but there was a break in the rain while I walked home and when we walked back to McEwan Hall for the ceremony. By the time I'd gotten home for lunch my friend was already suited up, complete with his white bow tie (Edinburgh Uni graduations are no boring black tie affairs!), so they left shortly after to pick up his parents and his robe. We dressed up and headed to the ceremony about half an hour later, where we were able to find them in the stands and watched with only a slightly obstructed view of the ceremony.

The university streams footage of the ceremony live on the web for family back home who can't attend. It was pretty exciting attending the ceremony, watching the 4 PhDs get tapped on the head (with a hat supposedly made from the material of John Knox's breeches) and thinking, 'that'll be me in 2 years!' And then one of the honorary doctorates went to a woman who had devoted her life to caring for donkeys, and it was quite amusing watching the entire population of the hall try not to giggle. I was able to watch many friends graduate. Derek captured it on video, and I took a few photos as I always do. My friend waved up in our direction after getting tapped on the head :) I had helped him out a bit in the last week of writing his dissertation back in August, mainly just trying to keep him feeling positive about it and being supportive, so I had a bit of an insight into how much he had put into that paper.

Afterwards the grads had been asked to head over to the history dept. for a wine reception with staff and for a big group photo of all the grads. This was the first chance I'd had to see some friends who'd left at the end of August, plus getting to see and meet friends' parents is always fun. Derek and I headed over to a pub to chat with a couple friends, then back to our place to relax for the evening while our house guests were out for a special dinner with his parents. After returning from dinner she and I had long chat, staying up until midnight while Derek was on the computer in the other room and 'the graduate' was out having a drink or two with friends.

This was the evening that we discovered the sofa bed was broken. Derek went to pull out the bed like normal, but the whole couch moved towards him. Us girls each took an end of the couch and braced ourselves against it, but Derek couldn't get the mattress to come out. It turns out that a spring had wedged itself somewhere it shouldn't be, but luckily it could be detached and removed with no permanent damage, and the bed still works fine with only one spring on one side. However, recalling this incident at the party on Thursday night led me to completely embarrass myself because I didn't think about my wording and didn't clarifying who I was with...

Thursday I was absolutely determined to get the essays marked. I was also determined not to let the impending party that night get me too stressed out, and when I admitted that it was already bothering me my friend made that wonderful suggestion of asking our mutual friend to host it. I spent the day marking, taught a tutorial at 2pm, then marked some more before figuring out the party details with my hosting friend. I was also a little stressed because at 5pm I had to attend a seminar paper given by a historian/Presbyterian minister who studies and has published on a similar topic to mine, and whom my supervisor wanted to introduce me to afterwards. This meant that I not only did I have to try to stay awake (by this time in the week I was seriously lacking sleep), but I'd also need to be able to discuss and explain my topic to an accomplished historian and let my supervisor show me off. I did make a good first impression I think. he seemed to think my topic was exciting, and he gave me his card and said we could meet for a chat sometime soon, which would be great. I made it home around 6:40 or so, in time for dinner and some Biggest Loser Australia and relaxing before grabbing our dozen bags of tortilla chips, bottle of Pepsi and heading off to the party.

The party turned out to be a great event. The boys had 'decorated' the room (which was in amongst our offices) with streamers and had masks and crowns and whistles as party favours. There were cookies and brownies, some wine and a ton of chips. I chatted with friends I hadn't seen in ages, and there was music. I also took lots of photos, as did Derek, who managed to capture a series of rediculous moments which were the result of me suggesting it'd be great to get a photo of me sitting in between my newly-graduated friend, who began elbowing me in the ribs after giving the host rabbit ears, and my party hosting friend, who had a mouth full of brownie and thought the whole thing was silly. Fabulously rediculous photos. I was also feeling great because 2 minutes before having to leave for the 5pm seminar I had finished marking my last essay!! Woo hoo!!!

On Friday morning the four of us in our place trekked across the town to a little coffee shop for another friend's 'office hour,' a tradition she'd developed last year and invited us all to join here before flying home to Finland that afternoon. So this was a fun chance to sit and chat in a quieter environment than the party the night before. It was also crazy cold outside, so it was nice to be in a little place with warm drinks, surrounded by good friends who I'd missed. Derek and I walked back for lunch while our friends headed over to the Botanic Gardens. We strolled through St. James' Shopping Centre on our way, keeping an eye out for potential Christmas presents. After a quick-ish lunch I headed back to school to attend a 4th year seminar taught by my supervisor, who had asked me to join them for the day as a 'slavery expert,' as the day's topic was the abolition of the British slave trade. That was quite fun, actually :)

Friday night was great. Our guests took us out for dinner at a pizza place in Grassmarket with great pizza and a crazy range of toppings, with the standards (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms...) unusual ones (apples and bananas, baked beans, cactus) and even sweet ones (chocolate and marshmallows, anyone?). Going out to dinner is such a treat in itself, but to be taken out by good friends was really special and we truly appreciated it. After adding to the snack supply (she bought chocolate; we still had 9 bags of chips leftover from the night before), we settled in for an evening of MarioKart and Rock Band. I love singing, but only certain songs, and the drumming is just so hard and funny sometimes. I have a tendency to scream slightly when I get out of rhythm while drumming , and I think my friend was swearing in Norwegian while running into trouble during MarioKart (but I can't be sure...).

Saturday saw a lazy start to the day. So many late nights had led to our alarm going from its usual 7:30 am, to 8, to turned off temporarily, to turned off period. We maybe made it out of bed around 9:15. In the morning we all took off shopping, first stopping by the school's visitor's centre and store, then to a cashmere store on the Royal Mile before hitting the mall. Derek and I came home for lunch, and then my friend stopped by to drop off his shopping bags and take me out for the much-anticipated slice of cake. It was definitely good, a triple-layer chocolate cake with thick, rich chocolate icing and chocolate shavings on top. My slice was about twice as thick as his, which he ribbed the waitress about, but he refused to switch with me, saying that then he wouldn't be able to order a second piece. In the end I couldn't finish my piece, so I had some help. It was a good chance to talk and get all caught up before he'd fly home the next day. That evening our friends went out for dinner and drinks with their friends from here, so Derek and I spent evening relaxing in front of the telly.

Sunday morning went by pretty fast. Again we all slept in, and then our friends had to somehow find space in their luggage for the mountain of shopping that had accumulated around their suitcases. They had brought extra empty backpacks for just such an occasion. I'm impressed that the living remained as neat and usable as it did with all the stuff in here, including normal items like the table and chairs and kitchen and coffee table, plus a drying rack which had quickly become a necessity with all the rain and being a good place to hang towels. After a record-breaking packing session we broke out the Rock Band for a few final songs before they loaded up and headed off to the airport bus. Its a bit unreal that they're gone, really. The flat seems so quiet! And I miss the late night chats. But I am looking forward to visiting them in Oslo at some point :)

They're Coming!

Derek and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of two friends from 'the continent,' who will be staying with us for the next week for the one's graduation. I'm not too nervous anymore, although as I look around the living room I keep spotting more areas that need to be dusted, and I wonder if I should be cleaning the windows or tidying up the counter. This will be the first time that we've had anyone stay overnight since our very first week in Edinburgh, when Derek's cousin stopped by for a couple nights as part of his backpacking trip across Europe. It's therefore also the first time that we've had anyone stay in our new flat, which has resulted in a number of questions and challenges to solve (and some which will just have to unfold).

For example, our flat is very open-concept. The living room and kitchen are one; therefore, our guests will basically be sleeping in the middle of our living room/kitchen/dining room. Also, as we're living in the city centre, our flat is rather tiny, and definitely not built for four. The bathroom is rediculously small, and feels even smaller because the door opens inwards. The bathtub is a tad raised, and the ceiling in there is lowered, so I'm thinking our one guest might not be able to stand up in it. I've raised this issue with him, and as he's quite tall he said its not uncommon so not to worry. But I don't think my dad will have a chance at standing up in there :)

One of the best things about having them come to stay is that we are now totally ready to have people stay. Luckily we have a fold-out couch which makes having people over somewhat comfortable, although it has seen better days and is really only comfortable when lying on your side, but if its a clear morning you'll wake up with a partial view of the castle. There was a nice but dingey Ikea duvet in the closet when we moved in, so we've had it cleaned and bought a gorgeous hot pink and red duvet cover and matching pillow cases (the couch itself is red, so it all works). We also got a couple lime green towels which I love. Ikea really is amazing for bright bedding and linens at a reasonable price. Therefore in the past few days we've gone from having just enough for two people, to being able to handle four or so. So come visit! :)

It should be an interesting week. Lots of reunions with friends from the MSc programme who are coming back for grad, a couple parties I would bet, and the experience of living with 3 other people in a flat built for one or two. Should be some fun, and some very interesting times. I'm sure we'll all get to know each other very well. It's also going to be a busy week for me at school. I've still got another 9 essays to mark, and there's a number of administrative meetings, tutorials and seminars that I need to attend. I'll let you know how it goes!

My London Trip

I (Derek) had a day long interview this Thursday in London. Being a 5 hour train ride away and a 9:00am start I had to go down the day before. I was put up in a very posh hotel, got a bit of attitude from the lady at reception, I think because I was young and not in a business suit.

Unfortunately I ended up getting a headache while on the train, had a horrible night's sleep and still had the headache the next morning.

Thursday morning I got up early had breakfast and then got ready, putting on my suit and gelling my hair. The company had hired a taxi for me and I was greeted by a chauffeur with a sign for the company. At the company for the day I started off with talking to the recruiter and she was able to get me some pain relievers and yet everyone know I was feeling slightly bad.

The interview consisted of written tests followed by discussion about the problems. A 30 min presentation, which I did about Cribbage, 2 straight up interviews, and a chance to hang out with a recent graduate hire for lunch and a tour of the building.

I did pretty well on the tests and during the discussion about them I was able to explain my ideas and expand and improve them, so I think that went really well.

The presentation about cribbage was very nerve racking before hand but once I got started there was so much interaction with the audience that I was able to relax and enjoy the talk. It ended up going so long that I had to cut out about a third of the slides.

Lunch was very nice, I ordered ham, chicken, cheese and lettuce with mayo on a whole wheat roll and it was too big to close the bun. It was a good lunch during which I enjoyed chatting with three relatively new hires, who poked a little bit of fun at my sandwich.

Having 10 hours on a train in two days seems like it would be pretty much unbearable but thanks to the availability of wireless internet I was able to chat with both Paula, and my mom while aboard the train.

I should be hearing from them very soon, and I will update you when I know how things turn out.

Shouting Out

Hi again! I wanted to give a shout out to my cousin Claire and her travel blog. If you think my life in Scotland sounds foreign, check out her blog about her experiences in Ghana, West Africa. Claire left Canada and moved to Ghana at the end of August. She's there as part of her university program in international relations (I think that's right), and having finished the coursework associated with her third year, she's now about to embark on some volunteer work within an African community for the rest of the school year. Her experiences have been absolutely fascinating (though I'll warn you -- some aspects of her life there are difficult to read about), and provide a real insight into living conditions in one part of West Africa. So if you're interested, check out Going to Ghana (and beyond)

It's Musical Madness!

Over the past five or six weeks I have been dancing again, and it's been great! About two minutes down the road in Grassmarket is Dance Base, Scotland's national centre for dance, with fantastic instructors and great facilities (including views of the castle above), so I had no excuse not to check it out. All last year a friend of mine had been raving about this lunchtime drop-in class she'd been attending, called Musical Madness, where they would learn choreography to well-known musical theatre songs. It sounded like a great time, but I'm the type of person who, if I stop work in the middle of the day for two or more hours, I'm don't pick it up again until tomorrow, so it wasn't practical for me to go.

This year the class is held on Wednesday nights, and now that we've moved it's literally two minutes away. Unfortunately, because it's in the evenings lots more people are able to attend, so getting a spot is a struggle. Our instructor is incredible, talented and a lot of fun, so it's no wonder he's one of the school's most popular instructors (so they've told me). Another friend and I showed up half an hour early on the first night to get a spot, but there already two others waiting in line and we left empty handed. Now we have dance cards that let us book our places online first thing in the morning. This can also be problematic, however, as there's only a couple spots available to book, and the time at which they are offered varies from week to week (spots have become available as early as 8:30, or as late as 9:45 am), and then there's also the worry that my friends won't have gotten a spot even if I did.

Luckily, other than the first week I've made it to every class I've wanted to. I'm considering signing up for the entire term in the winter, to cut out the stress of trying to get a spot, and because it is so much fun! Every two weeks we learn a completely new style of musical theatre dance, and its always a surprise. We danced some complicated steps to music from the Queen musical We Will Rock You, and learned a detailed number to All That Jazz in Fosse's signature style. The last two weeks we've danced to Aye Carumba from Copacabana, which was ridiculously fun and so very camp, shaking our maracas, banging our bongos and balancing fruit baskets on our heads as we danced around. The steps and routines are challenging enough to keep me completely focussed on the task at hand (something I also always loved about ballet -- I can't worry about school while dancing), and with daylight disappearing around 4pm it's also good incentive to get out and be productive and active in the evenings. It's also been great going with friends. This is a new experience for me, and it makes class a lot more fun.

So I'm looking forward to going again next Wednesday. Who knows what style we'll be dancing to next?!

Paula's Tips for Visiting Edinburgh

Derek and I think you should come visit Edinburgh one of these days. And when you do, you'll probably want to keep some of these things in mind:

1) Keep you camera on you at all times. I think that the most beautiful sight I've seen in Edinburgh was last fall, probably around 5pm, exiting the massive Boots (a pharmacy chain) on Princes Street. It was a fairly clear evening and the castle looked absolutely amazing, framed by a beautiful pink sunset with the few clouds highlighted by the last of the sun's rays. People were stopping in their tracks to stare at the castle, and there I was without my camera.

2) Watch your step. I think it's rather odd that in a city so obsessed with maintaining clean streets that street cleaners drive past our flat several times a week and city employees are all over the place picking up garbage, that the footpaths can get so yucky at times. I think Sunday and Monday morning are the worst. I won't go into detail, but I'd say dogs or drink is the most common culprit, combined with the total lack of grass and greenspace. You'll likely find yourself weaving around this and that and probably feeling a bit rediculous, but at least you won't get something foul on your shoe.

3) Bring your walking shoes. Edinburgh is just hill after hill. With the castle in the centre of town high up on an old volcano rock formation, you'll likely find that wherever you go, at some point you'll be going up or down a considerable hill, only to have to come back eventually. The city is actually quite condensed and you can walk to most of the main attractions from the centre of town. Then again, the train station and the spot where the airport bus drops you off is in one of the lowest sections of downtown, so be prepared to drag your luggage up a steady incline from the moment you arrive.

4) A cheap umbrella may not help. Most days the 'rain' in Edinburgh is actually a very light mist that floats in all directions, including getting up under your umbrella, coating your glasses and frizzing your hair. And on the few occasions when it's true rain (or even a downpour) the strong Edinburgh winds will take hold of your umbrella and have a great time with it. Luckily M&S sells umbrellas that are wind-tunnel proof. And wellies are always a good choice.

5) Don't trust what you see on a map (unless the map's 3D). Edinburgh is built on different levels, with parallel streets that might be several stories different in height. And so when you look on Google maps or a street map it's very easy to get confused, and can seem almost impossible to get to where you want to go if you find yourself on a bridge looking down at the road you'd hoped to be on (or vice versa). A quick tip: anything that is actually attached to Grassmarket and Cowgate (two main streets on the lower level located just south of the castle) are either on the lower level or lead from the lower to the upper level. Also, in general, the farther north or east you go, the lower you get (with the exception of the crags & Calton Hill).

Practice, practice, practice

In the next two weeks I'll be applying for a couple scholarships and awards, which will be my full-time job (and rather unfortunate timing, as I just had 30 essays handed in to me today for marking). Applying for these awards is so positively tedious, and yet you're supposed to get your work to come across as exciting and promising and all that jazz. Our profs continually warn us that applying for financial assistance, research grants and awards is a big part of their jobs as academics, so it looks like there's no end in sight. Might as well get some practice in now, while I've got the security of having won a studentship and a tutoring position from Edinburgh (I almost wrote 'Edinburgh uni' there -- oh how British English is sneaking into my vocabulary).

The first award I'm applying for is the SSHRC (Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada) doctoral fellowship. I'm quite used to be rejected by them, as I've applied the past two years to know avail. But it's worth a ton of money, so I keep on trying. Having to pay international tuition fees is a great incentive to put yourself and your work out there and see what you can come up with. One thing that's in my favour (and in all international students' favour) when applying to SSHRC is that because we're at international universities, our own school and department doesn't rank our applications and decide which ones to send to SSHRC. I apply directly to SSHRC, and therefore can know that my application will be read by at least one person affiliated with the research council. There's a number of Canadian students here applying for the awards (there's many, many doctoral awards up for grabs), and we're lucky to have a Grad Studies prof who not only is Canadian, but won two awards from SSHRC, and he is running a weekly prep course to help us get our applications together.

The part I hate most about applying for these awards is putting together my 'Program of Study' or 'Statement of Purpose'. No matter how hard I try to write in my own style (which is fairly clear and concise), they always seem to end up all flowery and authoritative, full of historiography, insisting upon the project's validity and potential. It's really not my style to go on about my own research and why its exciting and worth funding, but that's what you have to do. They can be so particular about what they want to see (and completely random about the length requirements -- anywhere from 150 words to two pages single-spaced). Usually they want to know the research topic, university, supervisors, why you've chosen that topic and university and supervisor, what sources you're going to be looking at and how you're going to use them, what's new/different/exciting about your project and what you hope to accomplish/find/answer. This is quite difficult at any stage in the research, because you don't have the answers, but that's expected. If you had the answers, there'd be no need to study it,

I also don't like asking profs for letters of reference. It's always a bit awkward, asking professors to write a page saying that you're a good student and that the project's a good idea, that it can get done in time, will contribute to the field of knowledge and is being written in the right place following a sensible timeline and methodology. But we're always being reminded that writing these letters is part of a supervisor's job (something else for me to look forward to :) ), and none have ever seemed to mind. Of course, I'm always sure to send out thank you notes and emails with the results. An interesting fact about reference letters is that apparently North American profs write very different style letters than British profs. The British profs are much more reserved and factual in their comments, while American profs use enthusiastic and flattering language to describe the student and their work. So that's something else to keep in mind when applying to a North American award with letters from British profs.

So that's how I'll be spending the next two weeks: applying and marking. There will be one or two more scholarships to apply for in the winter months, too (again ones that I'm annually turned down for :) ). The whole process is a bit like an audition, I suppose. You can practice and rehearse and spend ages preparing for a dozen auditions and get rejected from every one, and then you find out about another at the last minute, throw something together all rushed and haphazard, and somehow get the part. I wonder what goes on behind the closed doors of these financial award committee meetings...

How Can it Already be Thanksgiving Weekend?

I cannot believe that this weekend is Thanksgiving. I really can't. It doesn't feel like enough time has passed since the end of summer to warrant the Thanksgiving weekend yet. Of course, I'm sure if we were home and all the ads for Thanksgiving and posters for Octoberfest were out then we'd be feeling a bit more in the mood, but I still can't believe its even October! We are going to hold a Thanksgiving dinner again this year for a few friends, and we're just planning all that now.

I've somehow gotten myself wrapped up in all sorts of work for the school, which is really a good thing, because I like to be kept busy and like to be known and network a little with profs who I might someday work with as an equal, but it all kind of snuck up on me. In fact, it all started the first or second week of September, when I decided to find out if the rumour was true, that the school had decided to cancel its annual trip to The Burn for postgrads. When I found out it was indeed cancelled, I started a letter-writing campaign (my first one!), but within a couple of days (and without submitting a single letter) the decision was reversed and the trip was back on! Apparently word had gotten out that a bunch of us were working on something, and the threat of rebellion got them to miraculously find the £600 or so needed to make the weekend away financially viable and cheap enough for student budgets.

It turns out that wasn't the end of it, however. The trip continues to face challenges, the biggest of which I think is that the prof who was in charge of selling the trip to the students at a major finding meeting gave everyone the wrong price. Having misread the nightly cost for the weekend cost, he reported that the trip would only be £20, instead of £60. Oops. But the school managed to find more money to bring the cost to a more middle-ground of £45. That price is contingent however on 25 students signing up and paying their deposits by October 15th. And so my job continues. The Grad Committee at some point appointed me the student rep/promoter of the trip, so now I'm running and blogging about last year's trip, and posting photos to entice students to come. I started a discussion group on the school's social networking site, which I'll be monitoring and answering questions on. All because I wanted another weekend away (and another chance to play snooker)... :)

In July I was approached by the new Head of Grad Studies to help organize and run a series of lunchtime workshops for postgrads on modern British and Irish history, the first of which was held yesterday. This has been a neat experience, coming up with ideas for discussion topics, inviting professors to come speak, and designing a poster and writing up promotional blurbs on the network. We had 13 students show up, which was excellent. There's only 3 workshops per semester, so now that the initial planning and first workshop are over it should be smooth sailing. Or at least it would have been if I hadn't offered to be one of two students to give a 10 minute work-in-progress presentation/ pretend conference paper at the November date. Well, it'll be excellent practice. I've only given one conference paper in the past, and that was almost 5 years ago and I was a nervous wreck.

Tutoring also started last week. I'm teaching 3 tutorials per week, like last year, and its the same course as last year so I've been able to re-use my teaching outlines from last year for the most part, with the addition of a field trip to the National Museum of Scotland which is just down the street from the school. I love the whole 'free museums and galleries' thing they have going here. I don't know why Canada doesn't put more money towards preserving and showing off our heritage and culture that way, by getting rid of admission costs and opening these spaces up to everyone. Anyway, its off to a good start. They're all worried about the first essay being due in a week and a half, but I've devoted my entire tutorials this week to essay writing, which helps calm them down. And then in honour of Monday having been the 40th anniversary of Monty Python first airing on BBC, I've been spending the last five minutes showing the witch trial clip from Holy Grail on my laptop, which has gone over very well.

Finally, I've put my name up for consideration to be part of the new student-staff liason committee that the School of History, Classics and Archaeology is forming to get feedback from postgrads, so we'll see if I get elected. It felt a bit odd putting together my 60 word statement about me and my 'qualifications' -- it felt a bit like my (unsuccessful) run for high school student council all over again. Well, at least this time I won't have to give a speech.

Two Days in York

Derek and I bid farewell to Edinburgh last week for two days and one night as we caught the train down to York. Again we had lovely weather, cool but clear, a relatively uneventful train ride (although getting the tickets without the booking confirmation number was a bit of a hastle) during which we had a good chuckle about the large number of posters for STD screenings and birth control at Newcastle's station (and nowhere else) and I quietly vowed to throw a kid's DS off the train at the next stop if he didn't quit playing the same BrainAge game over and over again with the volume on full blast, and then we found ourselves stepping out of York's station and faced with the city's walls.

After checking into a lovely B&B (Ashley House, if you're looking for a place to stay) and organizing our backpacks, we headed off to find a nice spot for a picnic. We ended up in the Museum's gardens, which were very nice and in close proximity to the ruins of the St. Mary's monastery. From there we headed to York Minster, where again I was blown away by its size and beauty. Its the largest medieval minster in the UK, and its lovely. I liked how few people there were in it, and that we were free to roam around in whatever direction we pleased and wherever we liked. This is in stark contrast to our visit to Westminster Abbey in London, which was packed with tourists and had ropes and barriers restricting the flow of people through the minster. Sections of York Minster, including the Chapter House and one of the main windows, are under extensive reconstruction. They've actually hung a massive banner the height of the minster with a full-scale illustration of what the window will look like when it is refurbished.

After the minster we headed over to Jorvik Viking Centre for a ride back in time. Although over much too fast, the centre provides a really neat reconstruction of what York would have looked, sounded and smelled like in the late 9th - early 10th centuries. They've even utilized the skulls found in the area, using computer-aided reconstructions to put real faces on the mannequins in this underground village. I could have done without the rather silly time machine at the start of the visit, but it was a good time and a neat experience.

After dinner we wandered around the old town in the twilight, through the Shambles (a great street which I love, where the buildings jut out above you in a haphazard and unique way) and down along Stonegate where we found some exciting stores to visit the next day, including The Cat Gallery, where I was in love. I'm very happy they have a website and catalogue :) The area at night was very quiet and peaceful, as most of the tourists were probably still having dinner, and then suddenly the streets were flooded with locals. I was happy to find a blue-raspberry slushee (I'd really burnt my tongue on my lasagne at dinner) for only 95p, which was a great end to the day.

Day two we got up early and headed down for breakfast. The B&B has 5 rooms but only 3 were occupied, so it was a quiet breakfast room. I had an yummy breakfast of french toast with blueberries, topped with honey and a dollop of yogurt. Derek had the house breakfast, basically a full English without the beans, and it looked good. Then we checked out and headed off to Exhibition Square to take the 10:15 walking tour of York, a free tour guided by volunteers. Our group consisted of 3 Chinese girls about my age, one girl from Holland, an American couple in their late-30s, 2 Canadian couples from B.C. in their 50s or 60s, and us.

Our tour guide was great. She called her tour the Romans, Vikings, Churches and Chocolate tour -- just perfect for me. It ran long, lasting about 2.5 hours, and took us around the city centre, along Roman walls and by Roman coffins, into the courtyard of what was once the King's manor when visiting but is now home to the university's archeology dept., along sections of York's almost complete and amazingly preserved city walls, and into a great old church that continues to function without electricity and has kept its stall seating (rather than converting in Victorian times to the familiar benches or pews). We also learned that monkeys had lived in a section of forest in York for about 150 years, the result of sailors bringing them back from journeys, and as they got too rambunctious or large for the home they were set free into the woods.

After lunch we headed back to the train station to collect our tickets for the evening, then took a rediculously roundabout route to the National Railway Museum which was practically next door (my fault, but neither of us had seen the signs inside the station pointing out the shortcut). The museum was huge, which I suppose it has to be to accommodate and display so many trains. We saw a high-speed Japanese commuter train, a to-scale cross-section model of the Chunnel, several royal trains from the 19th and 20th centuries, and a really neat steam engine which has been cut into from the side and fully labelled so that you can get an understanding of how it works. We also walked under a train car, which was pretty neat. I also checked out the Thomas the Talk Engine store, but unfortunately couldn't find the right gift for my little brother.

After a dinner of pizza (chosen for the ease of eating leftovers on the train), we hopped on the 7:53pm train and got into Edinburgh Waverly around 10:30. Tired from the long day and so much walking, we were happy to be home. I don't know if we could have managed a 3rd day at that pace, but we saw everything I had wanted to and more, and I came back happy and content.

Tuesday in Stirling

On Tuesday we hopped on a train to Stirling (about 45 minutes away) for a day out. The weather was beautiful and sunny, just like it has been for most of the week. Our first stop was the National Wallace Monument, without realising just how long a walk we were embarking on. I knew it was just out of town, and we could see it from downtown. We just had no idea how big it is, and therefore that it was a lot farther away than it appeared. It took over an hour to walk there, and then once at the foot of the hill on which it sits we walked up the forest path to the base of the monument.

The monument itself was a beautiful stone Victorian structure dedicated to the memory and legend of William Wallace. Opting not to climb it (we'd already walked a long way!), we walked all around the base, admired the views of the countryside, the hills of the highlands in the not-so-far distance, and the town. Included in our view was Stirling Castle, sitting high above the city and reminding us how far it was back to town and our next stop. We ate lunch at the poorly marked picnic area to the side of the monument (the 'Picnic Area' sign had been turned around 180 degrees so that it pointed over the edge of the cliff), and it was this peaceful lunch that was my favourite part of the day.

On the way back to town we opted for public transport, and the ride on the bus lasted only a few minutes. We wanted to get a better look at Stirling Bridge, which we had crossed earlier, and to do this we climbed a hill path up to a couple cannons and 'The Beheading Stone'. From here we took a different path, walked along an alleyway, and winded our way up the side of the castle's hill up to the entrance of the castle.

Stirling Castle has an amazing history. I actually think it's history and architecture is more interesting than Edinburgh's. Stirling is considered the gateway to the highlands, so its strategic importance has been known and fought over for centuries as the English kings fought the Scottish monarchs for control. There's lots of buildings to see, including the large hall which has been completely restored, and even painted in the colour of gold that the entire castle would have been painted in the medieval period. There were also several beautiful tapestries hanging in the hall, and more are being made (they each take 4 years to make in the traditional manner) to replace the original ones which are now housed in NY. Unfortunately, one of the main buildings is currently under refurbishment, but hopefully it'll be open again to the public within the next two years.

We decided to get a joint membership to Historic Scotland, which gives us free access to castles and sites all over Scotland, and 50% off historic sites in England and Wales. This means we can now pop up to Edinburgh Castle whenever we want :) I hope to make good use of our membership over the next year or two!

Adaptation

Derek and I arrived in Edinburgh a year ago today. It's hard to believe how things have changed, how much more stuff we've accumulated, how much better we know our surroundings, how our school lives (and social lives) have developed in such a short time. Before we moved here I was sure that coming to Edinburgh was going to be the right thing to do, and luckily I still believe that.

It's only been in the last week or so that thoughts of 'What am I doing? Why did we come here? What's the point?' pop up in my head, most likely the result of some difficult and emotional stimuli encroaching upon my generally happy mindset. Asking around, it seems like I'm the odd one out to have only had these thoughts recently, and with the knowledge that I've successfully passed my first year (the probationary period) and have been accepted as a full-fledged PhD-2, I'm feeling quite encouraged and excited about my forthcoming research and adventures. Derek and I are actually heading out on our first UK roadtrip on Monday and heading north to the highlands, so stay tuned for more on that.

I think to acknowledge the passing of a great, unique and often surprising year here in Edinburgh, and having already relived our first few days in my Six Month Review post in March, I'll try to assess some of the changes that have taken place in our lives over these crazy 12 months. Could be a bit difficult from such an insider position (little chance of me being objective I suppose), but I'll put my historical research training to the test and see what I can come up with.

Food

I remember that in the summer before coming here Derek mentioned once that he was quite excited about the food, what was going to be available, what he'd be able to cook once we're here (for those of you who don't know us that well, Derek's the cook in our house, although I do love to bake goodies). In contrast, I was worried about the food. I'm a bit of a picky eater, and once I've established my favourite things, I'd be happy to only have those things I know I like.

Our meals have definitely changed. Bangers and mash pops up about once a week, and I'm a big fan of the toad in the hole Derek makes. Vegetarian haggis is a favourite of both of ours (we just had it tonight actually, with steamed veg and spicy chips). There's more variety in cheeses, and Derek gets his stewing beef from a local butcher. The bulk of our groceries are delivered to our door every Tuesday between 10 and noon via ASDA's (UK's Walmart) delivery service. For about 30p more than a roundtrip bus ticket to get to a full-sized grocery store they delivery groceries (incl. beer and wine) to your door (and up flights of stairs to your flat). Its an awesome service and I'm a bit surprised a similar system hasn't caught on back home.

My favourite meal for a special occasion is Marks & Spencers' chinese food, particularly their lemon chicken and their ribs. We rarely go out for a meal, as dinner prices are so expensive (£12 for an entree? I don't think so). There's some great lunch deals around, particularly for buffets. Jimmy Chung's is our favourite chinese buffet, and just last week we tried Indian for the first time at the Red Fort, and as it was buffet-style we could sample small amounts of all the dishes to figure out what we liked.

Clothing

When I mentioned to Derek that I was going to include clothing in the blog he just looked at me half-smiling and then looked down at his clothes. He does have a point -- the bulk of his clothing is straight from Waterloo, but he has accumulated a smart interview outfit and a couple nice M&S jumpers (sweaters). But what he forgets is that a year ago he didn't have his M&S days-of-the-week socks which quickly became a staple of his look. When the Thursday socks starting showing their weakness by developing holes much sooner than the others, he couldn't bear to part with them. Luckily for his birthday last week he got a whole new set (although unfortunately the new ones are new colours...). And I can't forget Derek's ultimate Scottish accessory (no, not the kilt, although I think that'll come), his Scottish hat. Which I love, and which I think suits him very nicely.

For me, my clothing style has changed a bit I'd say. First, I've had to adapt to UK sizing: clothing is four sizes larger (its quite depressing), shoes are a size smaller, and bra sizes are a letter larger. I wear skirts more often thanks to the fashion of wearing leggings or opaque tights year round here. My Uggs, a lovely Christmas present from Derek's mum, are the perfect year-round accessory to the short skirt and leggings or patterned tights look around campus, and that's what I was wearing today actually. Yes, I actually own patterned tights, and tights in different colours, and black leggings, and now lilac leggings.

I still shop at some of the same places, like La Senza for pajamas and H&M for cheap but nice clothes (with normal/US sizing), and my latest pair of trainers (sneakers) are my standard Adidas ones, although in gorgeous watermelon colours. I also bought a pair of tight jeans, which are great for wearing with high boots, but I always wear a long top or sweater with them. I've also bought a couple short black and navy dresses from H&M which I wear as tops over jeans. I haven't gotten into the scarf look that's popular here, but I did buy some pink wellies last week to help get me through another rainy winter.

Shelter

Well, to put it bluntly, we're paying more rent for a smaller flat (apartment) than we had back home. The fridge is so small it fits under the counter, and there's a bar-fridge-sized freezer in the closet. The water pressure in the shower is so bad I've permanently switched to baths, and we have to switch the power to our tv off at the mains (the outlet) every night due to the Scotland-wide risk of fire. Our washer dryer is convenient to have in the kitchen (standard here), but it doesn't actually dry. It just spins -- no heat or anything. The windows don't have screens so bugs can fly in, but that actually doesn't happen very often. And the mattress is a UK double -- much smaller than the queen we had back home. But we've adapted.

Being able to turn off the power at the mains is actually really handy to keep from wasting electricity. We have beautiful wooden floors and some decent furniture. Its not the decor we'd choose, but with a few throws it much more like home. Having a dishwasher is awesome. And how can I complain about the constant street noise in the living room when I look up from my computer to see Edinburgh Castle a block away, towering over everything. Yes, there's lots of drunk men and women walking down to Grassmarket's bars and up to Tollcross' strip clubs, but the costumes of the stag dos and hen nights are a great sight, and when the tour buses pause in front of our window we catch bits of information about the neighbourhood (plus we can watch the tourists' heads float by the window sill).

Life

Well, most of my days are spent in the library reading and writing history, looking up historians' points of view, comparing their findings to what I'm reading in the parliamentary papers, and developing the framework for my thesis. But this only comprises part of my day, and in the summer there was a whole lot more daylight to fill (from 4:30am to 10pm some days!). And we can't forget that when we returned to Edinburgh at the beginning of June Derek was no longer a student, so he has been balancing his time and energy between job searching, applications and interviews, and developing flash computer games which altogether have been played over 18500 times so far, and have made him a bit of pocket money.

Drawing on this summer as my sample, we found ourselves with busier social lives than we've ever had. There are probably several reasons for this. One is that back home, with the exception of two or three very close friends of mine who I see individually, Derek and I share a single circle of friends with relationships and connections that go back years (over a decade for some). And so, if the group was doing something that night, we'd have something to do, and if they weren't, or if only some of them were getting together, then we didn't.

Here I find myself with three distinct circles of friends, with a fourth possible circle building as I get to know my Edinburgh best friend's boyfriend and integrating Derek into the relationship as well. One group is made up of girls from my year and program and their friends. Another is made up of friendships which developed during the history trip to The Burn that I blogged about in February, in which I predicted that a few of those friendships would last. Through them I starting meeting other MSc students who met every Thursday for drinks or games or dancing... it was great, and I hope the few of us who are left can continue it this year.

A third circle grew out of our old living quarters with the other two couples in our university-owned townhouse. The first two involve a majority of international students, and I think that as university students we've realised that we have to get out and meet new people because everyone is new to us, and otherwise you won't know anybody. And so this summer we found ourselves attending Thursday night socials, hosting a flat-warming party and Derek's surprise birthday party, attending festival shows with friends, drinking beer in the Meadows at the dissertation celebration, learning the lindy hop with a bunch of historians (with an excess of willing guys!), saying goodbye to friends who were heading home, and going to our first sushi party. We're also managers of a fantasy premier league football club, but all I'll say about that is that we're no longer in last place in our mini-league of historians.

I've had countless cups of hot chocolate and one-on-one conversations in coffee shops and sitting on the grass that lasted for hours. I've learned about different cultures from friends who are based around the world, and now we've got couches to sleep on in a growing number of countries as we travel. I've sung Wannabe with a group of girls in a traditional Scottish pub at their karaoke night. I helped a few friends edit school and award applications, introductions, and in one case, a dissertation, because I enjoy it and its good practice for what I want to do in the future. And I still managed to write my first 11000 words, and put together another 10000 in quotations for my next chapter. Its been a crazy busy summer and an unbelievable year. Here's hoping the next twelve months will be as magical.

Wild Weekend

I mistakenly thought that with the end of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the craziness that has enveloped us here would end. But I was wrong. If anything life seems busier and more frantic than in August as I juggle coffee with friends, shopping trips in and out of town, meetings with professors as the new school year starts up, preparing for a new year of tutoring British History One (the same course I tutored last year), and fitting in my own studies.

There's also been a number of changes that have occurred in the past few weeks as good friends have moved home to other parts of the country, and across the sea or the ocean, having finished up their Masters degrees. I'm starting to appreciate how difficult it may have been for the friends I made back at Western when I was working on my MA, just to disappear after handing in my dissertation on August 1st. I made good friends who were in the Masters programme here, and while its difficult to see some of them leave, I know email and facebook will help us keep in touch, and that we'll now have friends around the world to meet up with on our travels. All the more reason to do some more traveling! Luckily, a bunch of the Masters students have taken up PhD positions here, so I'll be stuck with some of them for a few years yet.

On Friday I took the train to Glasgow with one of my closest friends for a day of shopping. We had decided a couple weeks earlier that we were going to need to treat ourselves after the stress of First Year Review preparations and the emotions that come with friends leaving and being away from our families, and there's some excellent shopping to be found in Glasgow. Of course, the best shopping comes with having extra money to spend, which we don't, but we did get some excellent bargains at Primark, the massive clothing store with crazy-low prices. For example, I bought leggings for 90p and slipper socks for £2. I also found a lovely pair of quilted pink wellies because with the way it's been pouring in Edinburgh in the mornings, I'm going to need them!

Sunday night was the Bank of Scotland's fireworks concert which marks the end of the Edinburgh Festival. I hadn't heard about it, but yellow signs started popping up along the streets on my way to school warning of the traffic diversions on Sunday evening. Derek was ill so he stayed bundled up inside to watch the highest fireworks shot from the castle, but I went out with a friend and her boyfriend, and he drove us to Inverleith Park, which is about 20-25 minutes north with a beautiful view of the castle. There were also speakers which played the music from the concert in Princes Street gardens (there was a live performance with an orchestra and choir performing Handel's works), so that the 100 000 fireworks still appeared to explode in time with the music regardless of us being so far away.

It's the largest performance of its kind in Europe, and it was spectacular. At times the fireworks were so bright that my camera couldn't handle the image, which is no small feat considering how far away we were from the site. I had to resist singing along to the Hallelujah Chorus which capped off the evening. Having sung it so often in high school as part of our massive choir, the Bluevale Singers, I think its permanently engraved in my mind. It was a really magical sight, and I'm looking forward to going again next year with Derek beside me.

An Edinburgh Summer

I'm finding it hard to believe that the end of August is near. I feel as though summer has passed me by, like I must have missed it somehow. It's not only because I've been studying and writing all summer, although that's certainly helped the months fly by. In fact, my First Year Review is upon me, and very soon I'll be a PhD-2. I can't really believe that I'll no longer be a first year.

I think that the main reason I'm feeling like summer has passed me by is the weather. With the exception of our days in London during a heat wave, this has not been summer weather. Not terribly surprising, I suppose, but its still a new experience to deal with. We've had a rediculous amount of daylight (although its noticeably disappearing), and lots of sunny days with blue skies and white fluffy clouds. The temperature just never gets up to a warm, comfortable temperature, and during the brief moments of direct sunlight you may feel the heat of the sun, but the warmth is gone the second a cloud passes by (which is pretty frequent). There's always a chill in the air, and usually a crisp cool breeze that necessitates bringing a jacket or sweatshirt whenever you go out.

There's also be a lot more real rain than we've had at any other time of the year. Unlike in the fall and winter when the rain was more of an annoying mist blowing around, we're now getting actual rain (or what we would call rain back home). There was even thunder and lightning a few nights in July! I'm happy I invested in a good Marks and Spencer's umbrella that's been tested in wind tunnels, and its clear (something I've always wanted) with silver stars so it makes me smile every time I use it.

So there have been no tank tops, no shorts (for me, anyway), no suntanning, no lying on the beach or swimming and no call for a bathing suit this summer. I don't think that's ever happened before. I have managed to get sunburnt once or twice -- its tough to remember sunscreen when its cold enough to require a sweatshirt in the morning. And I am rarely fooled anymore by a sunny morning, because dark rain clouds could be speeding towards Edinburgh, so a jacket and umbrella are musts. Occasionally I shrug off the sight of impending rain clouds, like I did last Friday at the MSc's Goodbye Dissertation, Hello Beer party in the Meadows on a beautiful sunny afternoon, but I got my comeuppance as the bunch of us got soaked running for cover in front of the grocery store up the path.

I don't think I'll be able to get used to the quickness with which the weather changes. Rainstorms blow in and out within an hour, quite handy if I'm trying to time my 15 minute walk home from the library, but rather annoying if caught midway home after a successful shopping trip while carrying canvas bags which do nothing to keep out the rain. It has made us appreciate the time the sun is shining, to the point where Derek and I will throw a couple books in a backpack and head out to the park on a sunny afternoon or a walk around the neighbourhood in the evening, or a coffee break with a friend at school will turn into a chat in George Square or the Meadows. We've learned to treasure sunshine and warmth, as its gone all too fast around here.

Although it sounds like Southern Ontario is getting quite the beating this summer, I will say that I do miss distinct seasons. However, I've been told by several friends that May is the most beautiful month here, which we missed this year due to a trip home, so I'll be looking forward to checking it out for myself next Spring. And I can't forget that with only about 5 days of snow last winter, mild, strikingly similar seasons do have their upside :)

The Tattoo

On Thursday night Derek and I went to the preview performance the 60th annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and it was absolutely amazing. Because it was a preview performance the media were all over the ground shooting video and photos of the performers, but it was only distracting when soloists were performing. The tickets were half-price, so we had amazing seats that we'll probably never sit in again, but I sure got some great shots. We were 6 rows up facing the castle, so the performers would come out towards us, and leave along the openings in the stands on either side of us. We had great views of the lights and images which were projected onto the castle, as well as the various formations the marching bands made during their performances.

The tattoo consisted of about a dozen bands (plus a choir and two groups of dancers) from around the world, most of them military bands, and about half of them highland/bagpipe playing regimental bands. It was the mass bagpipe performances that I enjoyed the most, although the unbelievable drumming of the Swiss Top Secret Drummers was probably the most exciting. I'd never seen synchronized drumming with fire! They were also the only group to drop something (a flag), but that didn't take away from their amazing feats. True showmanship!

There were a ton of memorable moments, the most shocking of which was at the very start when an RAF fighter jet flew overhead as the castle's cannons fired. That blew everyone away (not literally). The first time the highland musicians entered the performance area (the walkway up to Edinburgh Castle which is now surrounded on three sides by massive stands) was really striking. Linking arms and singing Auld Lang Syne with everyone else in the stands was also pretty cool. The Last Post, performed by three trumpeters on a lower platform of the castle, was followed by the Lone Piper higher up, and this was really beautiful. And the fireworks were great (I love fireworks! although not at midnight when I'm trying to sleep).

The finale, in which all of the participants came out, was pretty amazing (the conductor was up on a platform in the middle of the grounds conducting a couple hundred people), although the singing was out of sync due to having a second conductor conduct the Canadian male chorus who were way at the far end in the castle gate. I wasn't a fan of the live demonstration of the role of medics in Afghanistan, but I understand that this is predominantly a military performance and Britain is at war (though, as the emcee stressed, they're no longer in Iraq).

The performers came from all over, including China, Britain, Tonga, Switzerland, Australia and Canada. We actually saw many of them after the show on our walk home. We live about two blocks away from the castle, so as we walked along one of the roads around the side of the hill we passed a number of coaches (which is pretty typical, as there's always tour buses around there), but Derek spotted some costumed performers in them. It turns out they were all filled with the bands and performers, so that was pretty cool.

I'm really glad we went. We weren't really planning on going this year, but as more and people we know got their tickets, realizing we'd be hearing it every night anyway, and a gentle push from Dad all worked to get us up at 6am a couple weeks ago to get these tickets. I probably wouldn't go to a preview performance again, even though it was pretty funny to watch the photographers run backwards to avoid getting hit, so we'll probably never have such good seats again. But considering we've got a good view of the fireworks from our living room window (which are so loud I jumped at midnight last night, although I think it must have also been the cannons firing that made it so shockingly loud), I think any seats in the stands will be pretty amazing.

So if you're trying to decide when to come visit Edinburgh, August is pretty darn amazing around here (and so far no humidity!). But I think I'm going to find it pretty hard to get used to the noise of the fireworks and the fighter jets every night for the next 3 weeks!